Mundelein theologian to give annual Habiger Lecture here March 27

Mundelein theologian to give annual Habiger Lecture here March 27

Father Robert Barron, an award-winning author and theologian at the University of St. Mary of the Lake-Mundelein Seminary near Chicago, will discuss “Why St. Augustine’s Understanding of God Still Matters” in a lecture at the University of St. Thomas.

Barron will speak at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 27, in O’Shaughnessy Educational Center auditorium on the university’s St. Paul campus. The talk, the eighth annual Joseph and Edith Habiger Lecture in Catholic Studies, is free and open to the public.

Father Robert Barron

A professor of systematic theology, Barron, 46, received his master’s in philosophy from the Catholic University of America and his doctorate in theology at the Institut Catholique de Paris.

He is the author of many journal essays and half a dozen books on theology and spirituality. His 1997 Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual Master and 2003 The Strangest Way: Walking the Christian Path both won Catholic Press Association Book Awards. His most recent book is the 2004 Bridging the Great Divide: Musings of a Post-Liberal, Post-Conservative, Evangelical Catholic.

Last summer he published a DVD titled Untold Blessings: The Three Paths of Holiness. He frequently leads retreats and workshops on spirituality and hosts a program on Relevant Radio.

The annual Habiger lecture, sponsored jointly by St. Thomas and St. John's University in Collegeville, is named for the parents of Monsignor James Habiger, who stepped down in 1995 after 15 years as executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

Now a part-time chaplain at St. Thomas, he had served Minnesota parishes in Austin, Winona and Rochester, was superintendent of education for the Diocese of Winona for 16 years and was a high-school principal at Winona Cotter High School for four years.

For more information about Barron’s talk, call the St. Thomas Center for Catholic Studies at (651) 962-5700.